Oh boy, lots to complain about today...

Once again, the subways are the bane of my existence... trying to get to Brooklyn on Saturday night, need to take the L to Bedford, but of course the L isn't running over the weekend. Signs say that a shuttle bus will make all L stops. Wait for a shuttle bus, finally get one, it takes forever to make its way east, then drops everyone off at the brown JMZ line. People complain that the bus is supposed to be making L stops in Brooklyn, but the driver just keeps repeating "Take train to Brooklyn." Get on a J, even though I've never ridden that line before and have no idea where it drops me. Through some stroke of luck I run into a friend on his way to the same party right after I get off the train, and am good to go. After almost a 2-hour trip, that is. On the way home, I take the J again, and get somewhat excited that I can take it to Broadway-Fulton and transfer to a 2 or 3 to take me uptown. Wrong again, as for some reason the J stops at Chambers. "End of the line." Only train to transfer to is the 4, which goes up the east side. I consider taking it to Grand Central to take the shuttle across to Times Square and then grabbing a 2/3, but then remember that of course the shuttle doesn't run late at night. So I take the 4 up to 77th and then have to cab it through the park. Another hour and a half worth of travel. Fucking MTA...

I should have probably done this already, but I think I'm officially done with ER. (Spoiler alert!!!) They killed off Dr. Romano. A helicopter fell on him. Reread that last sentence. A HELICOPTER FELL ON HIM!!! This is the same character who lost his arm in a helicopter accident only 14 months ago! Even Wile E. Coyote isn't that unlucky. Romano's insults were the saving grace on the show for the past few years. What a great character. What will they do to fill the void? I won't be watching to find out.

Went to scout talent at a comedy show at Above Kleptomania on Friday night. That would be the comedy club sitting atop a peep show on 8th Ave. Sketchy to begin with, so I had my doubts about the quality of the show. First act, a sketch comedy group called Skeeger. Not very good, but one or two good moments. Second group was The Josh & Tamra Show, which was the reason we went. Improv puppet show. Actually very funny. Good enough to merit a link to their site. Third group, Undercover Burnout. So bad that for the last 20 minutes (of about a 22-minute show) I just kept thinking that I should take the gum I was chewing at stick it in the hair of the girl sitting next to me, since that would be so much more entertaining than what was happening onstage. Then, as we were leaving, the 3 girls I'm with want to check out a peep show, so we wander in, they being totally oblivious to the fact that the rooms hold one person and clueless as to what's going on behind the closed doors. I managed to herd them out without removing my hands from my jacket pockets.

I'll close with one more subway story... on my way out to Brooklyn, I see a mother with a little girl in a stroller. The girl is flipping through an issue of BuenHogar magazine (all my years of high-school Spanish lead me to believe that the title translates to "Good Fireplace," but that can't be right). I can't translate a lot of what's on the cover, but I do see the word "SEXO." Now this girl may not be able to read yet, but should she really be looking at magazines like that? Whatever happened to Highlights? And why do parents think that their parental responsibilities don't exist on the subway? A couple weeks ago I stared as a mother watched her 6-year-old daughter licking a pole on the subway! Does she want her child to get polio? This city never ceases to amaze me...